I'm surprised no one has posted this yet. Richard Zednik's throat was accidentally slashed by his teammate's skate during a game last night. It opened up his carotid artery. Somehow, dude had the presence of mind to staunch the wound and skate to the bench. He passed out in the tunnel, but he's OK now. The Youtube vid and the stills aren't too gory, but, forewarned, goddamned if this similar injury isn't.

"I could drown the pain, and drink upon commuter trains, and here you stand in eastern standard time" - Mike Doughty

Originally posted by ironcladlouI'm surprised no one has posted this yet. Richard Zednik's throat was accidentally slashed by his teammate's skate during a game last night. It opened up his carotid artery. Somehow, dude had the presence of mind to staunch the wound and skate to the bench. He passed out in the tunnel, but he's OK now. The Youtube vid and the stills aren't too gory, but, forewarned, goddamned if this similar injury isn't.

There is a report on YouTube (youtube.com)(This is a VERY graphic video, be forewarned), that was taken off a news program in Quebec that uses the FSN Florida footage as opposed to MSG. This video is MUCH more graphic than the MSG footage, and watching it, I'm amazed that Zednik had the presence of mind to not only try to stop the bloodflow, but that he also made it to the bench.

TSN in Canada is saying that he could be out of the hospital by the weekend, and, while his season is probably done, there should be no real lasting damage from this.

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Hey, I'm happy that he had the presence of mind to get to the sidelines and that he's going be able to recover. But after seeing the video, I wonder why they continued to play. That was a grusome scene and I can't see how anyone could have been on their right mind on finishing the game. If anything, I would be a little afraid that after all that, a player may not be focused mentally on the game and could end up being injuried badly.

BTW, interesting fact: I forget where, but I read that the same paramedics who saved Zednick's life where the ones who saved Kevin Everett when he was paralised on the football field. Those medics deserve some special reconigition from the city of Buffalo, for without them, the sports scene there could have been much more tradgic.

There was a similar injury some 17 years ago or so (referenced in the thread's first post) where goalie Clint Malarchuk actually had his jugular severed by a skate. He survived as well, and some goalies started wearing neck guards, but as time went on they seemed to disappear. There's still a sizable amount of hockey players that don't wear visors to protect their eyes, and a stick or puck to the face is much more common than a skate coming up to the neck. Lots of players just aren't comfortable with wearing visors or neck guards, and as a result the NHLPA isn't likely to approve mandatory visors or neck guards anytime soon.

That said, we were once having this 'debate' over helmets in hockey, and the helmets eventually became mandatory with a grandfather clause for then-current players. There's certainly a chance that the same could happen for visors or neck guards, but chances are it'll take a more serious injury than this (or, god forbid, a fatality) to actually get people moving.

I've learnt this much sense I started watching hockey quite a few years back; as soon as the regular season is over there is NO ONE that's more dangorous than Patrick Roy. I ain't writing off the Aves until the series is over =)